2018 – Core Desired Feelings

As with all the previous years, I knew I wanted to pick my core desired feelings this year, too. If you want to know more about core desired feelings, please go to my post from 2016 and you can see the links there.

I was struggling at the end of this year and didn’t feel ready for new core desires. But I also didn’t really feel the need to keep my existing ones. So I woke up early one morning and even though I was feeling apathetic and no desire to do the exercises, I decided to give it a go anyway. And as they always do, they worked.

I mentioned last year that there’s a pattern to my words: I always pick something around peacefulness, something around being brave, something around being open, and then maybe a few new ones. So this year I was curious if I would break the trend.

Here’s what I came up with this year and what they each mean to me:

• Fresh: Maybe this is my brave word for this year. Fresh to me means something that’s new to me, something that stretches me, helps me grow and learn. Something that keeps me engaged and makes me feel alive. Something different. An adventure. A permission to explore. I was going to call this alive and then engaged but I found myself coming back to fresh again and again so fresh it is.
• Magical: I love this word. This one, too, took a while. I wanted to have it be wonder, or joy but I really feel the word magical in my bones. It’s feeling inspiring, joyful, awed, grateful, adventurous and love all rolled up in one. That incredible, magical feeling. 
• Lighter: This is my peacefulness word this year. I want things to feel easy, unburdened, calm, free and kind. I want to put down the load I carry around. Less rush. Slower. Lighter. Easier. Maybe this is also my word around being open. Feeling light and not heavy, open and not constricted.
• True: I want everything I do to feel true to me. True to who I know myself to be in my heart. True to the best version of me. This feeling is like solid, belonging, knowing, peace, deliberate. This is how I feel when I know something is right. 

So there we are.

I love all of these. Most importantly, I can immediately connect with the feeling I get when I say these words. I feel them in my bones. Which is the sign that they are the right words for me right now. I want to feel all of them and I want to make a point to look at my life and my choices through these lenses next year. Here’s to a fresh, magical, lighter and true 2018!